Eli On WFAN: We're Hurting, But This Division Is Up For Grabs

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- This won't be a season of style points for the Giants. If they do happen to turn things around they know they'll have to take any break they can get, whenever they can get them.

Eli Manning said as much on WFAN on Monday, telling Mike Francesa his team's 0-4 start is about as brutal a situation as he's experienced since joining this team a decade ago, but he remains optimistic something can be done to change Big Blue's fortunes.

"Honestly, we're not playing very well right now offensively and it's showing. We're getting into bad situations in the fourth quarter and not giving ourselves a chance to compete in the fourth quarter and win games. We gotta get back to work. We have young guys at some spots right now, but we need the veterans to step up and make some plays," Manning said.

Manning was referring to Sunday' 31-7 loss in Kansas City, a game in which the offense turned the ball over three times, the pass defense got picked apart by Alex Smith and the special teams allowed an 89-yard touchdown on a punt return.

Aside from wide receiver Victor Cruz's 10-catch, 164-yard, TD effort the Giants simply didn't do much.

"We're just not getting into a rhythm and have too many three and outs. Not enough seven- and eight-play drives," Manning said.

But yet, despite the horrific start, the lack of offense, the injuries, and a defense that has allowed at least 31 points in every game, Manning said he sees a reason to be optimistic.

"Philadelphia is 1-3, Washington is 1-3, Dallas is 2-2," Manning said, referring to the NFC East standings. "We play Philadelphia this week. Dallas goes to Denver to play so you can say, hey, hopefully my brother will do his job and help us out big and we get a win and we're one game back."

Denver destroyed Philadelphia 52-20 on Sunday.

"We need one. We need a great week of preparation and play better on Sundays. That's what it comes down to. Attitude has been as good as it can be considering the circumstances," Manning added.

Manning has a point. There's no way the Giants climb out of this hole in any one week. They need to think no more than week to week and make the most of each 60 minutes they play while trying to develop some kind of personality.

"It's a bad start and since I've been here we've always had pretty fast starts. There have been times we've had little lulls. Even in 2011 we lost four games in a row that year and went on to win a championship," Manning said. "Good teams can go through stretches where they don't play well. Not sure if we're a good team right now. We have good players but we're not playing as a good team."

The Giants quarterback said it's comforting to know there are some veterans on the team that know adversity and how to overcome it, but added there's a fine line between experience and execution.

"It's never easy. It is frustrating to go through these stretches. I guess just the fact knowing that we have gone through these stretches before and overcome them," Manning said. "We've gone through streaks where we've lost four in a row but have still been able to make the playoffs and get hot. We just gotta know that we can turn it around. There's no button to automatically make it happen. It just comes with preparation. We need a great week of practice, our young guys to step up and our veterans who have made plays in the past to play at a higher level."

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